A Book I Recently Read

Abe Velasco is one of my favorite people in The Journey Family...He and his wife, Izzy, have been a part of us from the early days and he recently gave me a book to read that he has been telling me about for years. The name of it is "Sufferings In Africa". There are many remarkable distinctions about the writing, one being that it was composed and first printed almost 200 years ago

It is the true story of a merchant captain by the name of Captain James Riley, who sailed with a crew from Hartford, Connecticut on May 6, 1815. On the 28th of August of that same year, they were shipwrecked off the western shore of North Africa.. The cargo was lost and all members of the crew were captured and then sold into slavery. The book is a tale of remarkable courage, unrelenting perseverance, challenged faith and all-in prayers for deliverance by God. All of this was done in the midst of what most of us would consider to be impossible obstacles to overcome for being saved from this terrible ordeal.

The book was listed by Abraham Lincoln as one of the three most influential books he ever read and he was a voracious reader. I strongly recommend that the Journey Family get its hands on a copy. I have checked and discovered that it is readily available on several online sites including the iTunes Store, Google Play, and Amazon.

Here is just a brief excerpt about the book from the back cover of the version that Abe loaned to me:

"Captured by a band of nomadic Arabs and herded across the Sahara Desert, they were beaten, forced to witness outrageous atrocities, sold as slaves, and starved so severely that Captain Riley's weight dropped from 240 pounds to a mere 90 pounds at his rescue".

If you have read it or intend to do so, drop me a note here and let me know what you think...Happy reading - you are in for an adventure and a boost in your faith in the goodness and mercy of God.